16-Year-Old in Iran Jumps from Building After School Harassment Over Hijab Rules

Arezo Khavari, a 16-year-old Afghan girl in Iran, died after reportedly jumping from the sixth floor of a residential building in Tehran on November 3, hours after she was threatened with expulsion from school for not adhering to Iran’s strict dress code for women.

On a school trip last Tuesday, Arezo’s assistant principal confronted her for briefly removing her headscarf, laughing with friends, and wearing jeans. The assistant principal filmed her, threatening to send the video to the principal and have her expelled.

The threat devastated Arezo. By the evening, she was gone.

Arezo’s father, speaking to the Iranian news agency 7Sobh, blamed the school principal for his daughter’s death. He has filed a formal complaint, alleging that the principal’s harsh treatment and repeated threats caused Arezo’s mental health to deteriorate.

Arezo’s friends remember her as a bright, social teenager who loved life. “Last year, the [school officials] reprimanded her for being cheerful, laughing too much, and having too many friends,” one friend told Iran Wire.

Afghan refugees in Iran, especially women, often face systemic discrimination, including barriers to education, work, and basic dignity. According to the UN, approximately 4.5 million Afghans live in Iran, with 71% being women and children.

Under Iran’s 2020 Child Protection Law, schools are required to create safe environments for students. Threats, neglect, and abuse are criminal offenses. Some say Arezo’s death highlights a broader issue: schools enforcing harsh, unnecessary rules, particularly targeting girls and young women, at the expense of students’ well-being.

“The persistent harassment and psychological torment of young women in schools under the Islamic Republic is far from a new phenomenon,” a team member of United For Mahsa, a non-partisan social activist group bringing human rights issues in Iran to the fore, told More to Her Story. “It’s all about authority and power over women, their bodies and the society.”

“What does it matter if a girl laughs with her friends or wears jeans?” Lawyer Hossein Raisi told Iran Wire. “This obsession with control destroys lives.”